Fence-making machine



(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 1.

J. WILLIAMS & J. REYNOLDS.

FENCE MAKING MACHINE.

1%.. 323,841. Pa nted Aug. 4, 1885.

W LNVE "r535- /W/@ZH (No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

J. WI LLIAMS & J REYNOLDS.

' FENCE MAKING MACHINE.

No. 323,841. Patented Aug. 4, 1-885.

UNITE JACOB XVILLIAMS AND JOSIAH REYNOLDS, OF DUBLIN, INDIANA.

FENCE-MAKING MACHINE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent 1 To 323,8%1, dated August 4, 1885.

Application filed June 1 1885.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that we, J AGOB WILLIAMs and JOSIAH REYNOLDS, citizens of the United States of America, residing at Dublin, in the county of Wayne and State of Indiana, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Fence-Making Machines, of which the following is a specification, reference being had therein to the accompanying drawings. 1

This invention pertains to improvements in fence-machines, having for its object to twist the stringers orwiresupon the pickets or slats simultaneously with erecting the fence; and the invention consists of the combination of parts, including their construction, substantially as hereinafter fully set forth,and pointed out in the claims.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a side view of parts, showing the usual number of stringers and posts for supporting them, of a section of wire fence, with our invention applied thereto in twisting the stringers upon or connecting them to the pickets or panels. Figs. 2 and 3 are enlarged detailed views of the same. Fig. 4 is a plan view of Fig. 1. Figs. 5, 6, 7, and 8 are additional detail views, also enlarged, of our invention; and Fig. 9 is a sectional plan view taken on the line 2 2, Fig. 5.

in carrying out our invention we employ a normally-upright bar, A, which is adjusted at the point of beginning for the fence, and which is stepped at its lower end, as at a,which lower stepped end engages with or enters the notches of a rack or notched bar, B, resting either upon the ground or supported above the same, as will be seen hereinafter.

\Vithin suitable apertures made in the upright bar A are supported twisting-heads O O, at intervals apart equal to the distances or spaces the wire'stringers to be put in position or connected by the slats or panels are to be placed apart, said twisting-heads each having usually two or more apertures for the passage through the same of two or more wires of a stringer. These twisting-heads in practice are adapted for conjoint action, it being designed to pass a belt, 0, in contact with pulleys upon the shafts, or in grooved peripheries of said twisting-heads, and in contact with intermediate rollers or pulleys, b, the axes of which are adjustable by means of the slots b (No model.)

and nuts W, to enable the tightening of the belt and to compensate for wear. The opposite portion of said belt to that which is passed around the twisting-heads and rollers or pulleys is held out of the way of said twistingheads and more or less stretched by a board or bridge, 0 upon which the belt also travels, as shown in dotted lines, Fig. 5. The central or middle twisting-head is provided with a series of beveled cogs, g,upon its outer surface, with which cogs is caused to engage or gear a beveled pinion, whose shaft is suitably bracketed upon the upright bar A, and provided with a crank or handle, 9 for its operation, to actuate the twisting-heads in effecting the twisting of the wires of the stringers.

The upper end of the uprightbar A has adjustably connected to it by a serially apertured plate, (I, and a pivot, 01, a pivoted bail or loop, D,whieh may have a cylindric sleeve to impinge or bear upon the slat over whose upper end the loop may be placed, as seen in Fig. 1, to enable the holding of theupp'er end of the said bar A in position. The same bar is provided near its ends with the buffers or cushions e e, which keep the bar itself out of contact with the slats or pickets and form bearings for the bar. The buffers e e are extended outwardly a short distance to about in a plane with the outer ends of the apertured plate (I.

E is a lever having a crank or elbow formed at its lower end, the free end of which crank or elbow is pivoted to the upright bar A, near its (the latters) lower end, while at the point of conjunction of the upper end of said elbow or crank with the lever is pivoted a fulcrum, f, which also enters or engages with the notches of the rack or notched bar B, as seen in Fig. 1, and whereby, upon pressing downward on the free or upper end of the lever E, (the fulcrum f receiving the weight,) the stepped lower end of the upright bar A can be readily lifted out of its containing-notch and be moved to and let into the succeeding notch of the rack 13 when it is desired to advance the said bar A, the loop or bail D at the same time, of 1 from the upright bar A--say at a short distance beyond the point of completion of a prospective fence panel or seetion and is supported by conneCtng-bars G, which bars are provided with sharpened ends designed to enter a short distance the post of the fence-section near which the upright or bar A is located, and the other end to enter or press against said upright or bar, thus securely holding the same in position as against any forward movement occasioned by the pulling of the wire.

Upon the sides of the upright bar or post A are secured or bolted the wire tension plates F, (each opposite lower plate upon the opposite sides of said bar or post being connected, it maybe, by common bolts,) which plates are connected in pairs upon each side of the post or bar A, one plate of a pair having a series or number of nodules or protuberances, h,which are received into corresponding cavities or depressions, 71., in the other plate of the pair in order to retain said plates as against lateral displacement at either end. Through the plates 1' of each pair, about at the middle, is passed a vertical bolt, i, with its upper extended portion passed through the middle of a preferably bow-spring, i, which spring is held as against upward bodily movement by a nut, the ends of said spring bearing or rest ing upon the upper one of the pair of plates F, whereby the latter are held together yieldingly or with sufficicnt pressure to prevent the displacement of the wires or stringers which pass between the plates, and at the same time to permit the wires to have movement through the plates longitudinally or in the direction of their lengths as the wires are fed forward by the action of the twistingheads.

G G are a series of additional guides or loops, which are designed more particularly to effect the convergence of the wires of each stringer from the post of bar A to within a short distance of each other, and coineidently with the apertures or passages in the twisting-heads,as seen in Fig.3,to enable the guiding of the wires to and through the twistingheads without lateral frictional contact or strain upon the latter. Each guide or loop G is formed of a rod, G, connected by an eye and staple or other suitable manner to the post or upright A, and of a loop or open eye, G made integral with said rod, the opening in the eye or loop G permitting the entrance to said loop of the wires. The open eye or loop G3 stands vertically when containing the wires, while the rod G extends obliquely and downwardly from said eye or loop, to permit the passage through the eye or loop of the horizontal wires of the stringers, and at the same time to effect the connection of the rods to the vertical post or upright A.

The coiled portions of the wires from which the stringers are formed are wound upon a drum or windlass, H, which may be constructed as shown in Fi zG, a central partition separating the two coils of the wires of a stringer, the wires being passed from said drum or windlass to and between the plates F. The drums or windlasses are supported, and free to revolve, by means of a bar projecting on either side thereof and entering notches in the inclined surface of the standards J of the frame J I In case it should be required to build the section of the fence at an elevated height and secure the same to the fence-posts, we fasten to that side of the fence-posts to which the fence is to be secured a base-board, K, of the desired height, and on the upper edge of said base-board the lower end of the feuce-panels are designed to rest. To this end we employ brackets, one of which, I, is shown in Fig. 8, to hook over the top edge of said board and to support the rack or notched bar I said brackets each having a hook, I, for the former purpose, and a recess, 1 to receive said rack or notched bar, as seen in Fig. 7.

From the foregoing description of the construction of our invention, taken in connection with the drawings, the operation will be clearly apprehended, Fig. 1 of said drawings representing the invention as applied for use.

In the construction of our fence we twist the wire around each alternate picket in the direction opposite to that in which the wire was twisted on the last picket, and continue this reversible movement during the entire operation of constructing the fence.

Having thus fully described our invention, what we claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. In a fence-machine, the support having the stepped lower end and the twisting-head or heads, with their operating mechanism, in combination with the rack or notched bar and means to hold in position the upper end of said support, substantially as shown and described.

2. In a fence-machine, the stepped support having the twisting-heads,with their operat ing mechanism, in combination with the loop or bail connected to the upper end of said support and the rack or notched bar, substantially as shown and described.

3. In a fence-machine, the stepped bar or support having the twisting-heads,with their operating mechanism, in combination with the loop or bail connected to the upper end of said bar or support, the cushions or buffers, also applied to said bar or support, and the rack or notched bar, substantially as shown and described.

4. In a fence-machine, the combinatiomwith the twisting-head support and the rack or notched bar, of the elbow or bell-crank lever with its lower end pivoted to the said support and having a pivoted fulcrum adapted to rest in said rack or notched bar, substantially as shown and described.

5. In a fence-machine, the tension-plates connected together in pairs upon the sides of an upright or post, and having nodules or protuberances and corresponding cavities or depressionsfor the purpose specified and springs pressing on said tension-plates, substantially as shown and described.

6. In a fence-machine, the tension-plates connected together in pairs upon the sides of an upright or post, one plate of a pair having nodules or protuberances and the other plate having cavities or depressions to receive said nodules or protuberances, substantially as shown and described.

7. In a fence-machine, the tension-plates connected together in pairs upon the sides of an upright or post,and having the connectingbolt passing centrally through a spring pressing upon the upper plate of a pair, one of the plates having nodules or protuberances and the other plate having cavities or depressions which receive said nodules or protuberances, substantially as shown and described.

8. In a fence-machine, the guide-loops havingeach an open eye and a rod, the eye being vertical and the rod obliquely disposed to said eye, in combination with the tension-plates connected to the sides of an upright or post,

substantially as shown and described.

9. In combination with the base-bar of a fence-machine, the bracket having a hook to fit over the top edge of a base-board, and having a recess to receive the bar, substantially as shown, and for the purpose described.

10. In a fence-machine, the combination, with the rack or notched bar which receives the stepped twisting-head support, of the bracket having a hook to fit over the top edge of a base-board, and having a recess to receive the rack,substantially as shown and described.

In testimony whereof We affix our signatures in presence of two Witnesses.

JACOB WILLIAMS.

JOSIAH REYNOLDS. Witnesses:

BENJAMIN F. WEBB, THOMAS R. J ESSUP. 

